


the boy from farm station

by butter



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining, Spoilers through s3e1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 05:46:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5816482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butter/pseuds/butter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Truth is, Nathan doesn't have a boyfriend from Farm Station.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the boy from farm station

**Author's Note:**

> Written after s3e1 so contains spoilers through that episode. First 100 drabble so forgive any continuity issues, I haven't watched the show fully through since s2 had just finished.

Truth is, Nathan doesn’t have a boyfriend from Farm Station. It had been something he had accidentally said to Bellamy one night, the both of them just over the edge of tipsy from smuggled moonshine after a long day of training the kids (their youngest trainee is only 14 but that just seems so strange to him still). They were propped up against the side of Bellamy’s cot, which he only had in his tent because no one else would let him give it to them, so he had kept it through a sense of sullen gratitude. Bellamy had just finished a long-winded story of a girl he had known from Agro who had taught him how to braid hair and how Octavia, 8 at the time, had bugged him almost every time he saw her to practice on her, and Nathan was feeling loose enough that he spouted out “Agro people are always good with their hands, huh.”

Bellamy shot him a look and nudged him with his shoulder, overestimating the force needed just enough to make Nathan catch himself with one hand before he tipped completely to the side. “How would an Alpha station guy know that?”

Nathan took another swig from the bottle they were sharing and, after swallowing a cough at the strength of the stuff, shrugged. “Just observing.” He remembered being 15, following his dad around on patrol, and watching dexterous hands snip leaves off of the herbs that grew in the hydroculture rooms. He remembered wondering if the ring he had pocketed the week before would fit those hands, if their owner would even accept it. The ring had been thin and copper-colored and, Nathan had thought to himself, wasn’t that girly at all, not really, so maybe the boy would –

“Nah, I know that look,” Bellamy interrupted his thoughts and reached to grab the bottle back. “You look like Harper when she’s staring at Monroe, or Monty when he gets to talk about that radar system he’s working on. Did you have someone from Agro?” and Nathan winces just enough at the mention that Bellamy crows in success at securing new gossip before sobering up and slinging an arm over his shoulders. “Just wait, there’s bound to be more of us out there. At least a dozen crash sites and we’re all the only survivors? There’s no chance.” But Nathan can feel the way his arm twitches and he knows that neither of them holds that much hope. He stays quiet, partly to avoid the subject of the crashes and partly to avoid any more mentions of this ‘someone’ from Agro that Bellamy has decided he has. 

After all, he was supposed to be – Nathan had thought he was over the whole thing. They had never spoken on the Ark, Nathan had only ever seen him when he followed his dad on his route through the stations and even then the other boy had been near-constantly trailed by his friend. But then Nathan had been caught lifting more jewelry - he had always been too distracted by pretty things - and sent first to the Sky Box and then to the Ground. And then, in the middle of the chaos of first contact, he had turned and – 

“Monty Green, by the way,” the boy from Farm Station stuck out one hand, the other swiping his hair away from his forehead in the humidity of the forest. They shook hands and the boy gestured over his shoulder at his friend. “This is Jasper. Miller, right?”

“Yeah.” Nathan remembers the way his voice came out rougher than expected, and then the way that he had immediately been pulled away by an steamrolling Bellamy to be talked into organizing a ground patrol. And he had managed to miss more interactions, sticking instead with Bellamy and the rest of the gunners once they were organized, but then the mountain had happened and he had watched as Monty remained skittish, never settling into the imagined comfort of Mount Weather the way Jasper and the others did. Then Clarke had disappeared, then Monty and Harper, then they were back and Nathan’s hands shook when he helped Monty limp back to his bunk. The mountain had effectively broken down any walls he had thought he built up and suddenly he was noticing Monty’s hands and hair and the way that his eyes lit up when he knew exactly what to do to fix a problem. It sucked, basically, because it wasn’t like they had nothing else to worry about. 

But now they were back at the Ark, in Arkadia, and even though they were officially stationed in separate sectors – Monty with the engineers and Nathan with the guards and patrolmen – it was impossible to avoid him. They were friends, sort of, in the way that only escaping multiple near-death experiences can make people friends, but Nathan had Bellamy back and Monty had Harper, so there was no reason to be hung up on it all. 

And Bellamy had been talking about something else for a solid five minutes now, Nathan realized as he tuned back in. He let him talk for awhile, contributing a few nods and noises of assent to keep the one-siding conversation going, and eventually retreated to his own bunk that he shared with a few of the other guards. He blamed his lack of sleep on the moonlight that slanted through an air vent in the makeshift roof and the snores of one of his bunkmates.

\--

After the patrol to Sector 8 goes awry, Nathan watches Monty bury himself back in his work. His hair’s getting long, he notices, and when Harper jokes and pulls it back in one of her rubber bands one night at dinner Monty only smiles faintly. He had really been hoping to find his family, Nathan realizes, and immediately feels like shit when Monty tries to treat him with the same kind of careful apology. Because Monty thinks that he lost a boyfriend in the Agro crash. Because Monty has no idea. This sucks. 

A week goes by without much change. Jasper is AWOL for long stretches of time after he gets released from medical and Monty feels like a shadow, moving only between Engineering and the mess hall before returning each night to the tent that he shares with Harper. Nathan doesn’t really know when he made up his mind to do it but before he knows it he’s palming a ring from the piles of Mount Weather supplies. It’s a silver band with a small amber inset stone and delicate engraving around the band that looks kind of like tree branches. You’re a fucking sap, he thinks, pocketing the ring and heading towards Engineering. 

Monty’s the only one in there, everyone else on dinner break, but Nathan knocks hesitantly on the metal door just to let him know he’s there. Monty tends to get absorbed in his work, and Nathan’s seen him accidentally smack people with wrenches when he’s snuck up on. 

The other boy looks up. “Oh hey Miller, do you need something? Did that taser I rigged for Monroe last week short out again, because I think I might know how to fix that-“

“Nah,” Nathan shrugs, hands in his pockets because he’s about as confident as a love-struck twelve-year old about this whole thing. Which, he thinks, isn’t far from the truth. “It’s holding up still. No, I just – I thought you might want to talk.”

Monty frowns and scoots over enough that Nathan can swing one leg over the bench he’s sitting on and take a seat facing him. “What’s up? Everything alright?”

“I just,” Nathan shifts uncomfortably and rubs his knuckles. “I wanted to check in, about the thing with Farm Station. Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Oh.” He sees Monty’s eyes flick down and back over to the wires he’d been all but elbow deep in before he stopped to talk. “I. I mean, it’s hard, right? When the beacon went off I really thought… Anyway, it must be tough for you too, right? I never knew you – I mean, I didn’t. I guess I didn’t think that anyone not from Agro would know anyone there.” Nathan’s gut twists when Monty hesitates for a quick second before reaching to touch him lightly on the knee. “I’m sorry about your boyfriend, too.”

Nathan’s a fucking idiot. “Actually, I – I never had a boyfriend from Farm Station.” He sees Monty look up at him, startled, and continues before he can say anything. “I think I accidentally made Bellamy think I did, and, I don’t know, it didn’t seem important to correct him in the Jeep. I thought we should check Sector 8 out anyways.”

“Why would Bellamy make that up?”

“He didn’t, I, I don’t know, we were drunk and I kind of told him I used to have a crush on this, this guy from Agro but we never. I mean, we were never together.” Nathan’s so glad he doesn’t blush because, Jesus, his face feels hot. 

“Did you…” Monty fidgets and now Nathan knows he’s made him uncomfortable. For as eccentric as the guy can be sometimes he always seems pretty calm and composed, usually letting Jasper be twitchy enough for the both of them. Nathan’s so distracted by the way Monty’s fingers are twisting together that he almost misses him ask “Did you ever tell him? Before… before we got sent down?”

“Oh. Um, no, I got locked up in the Sky Box before I could even think to. Anyways I was just a kid, I didn’t really… I don’t know, I didn’t really think it would go anywhere. And I never talked to – to him.”

“Oh.” Monty hasn’t looked up from his hands yet. “That’s – I mean, I’m sorry for your loss, but it’s kind of surprising.”

Nathan frowns. “Huh?”

“Well,” Monty lets out a breath and shrugs weakly, “You always struck me as kind of the determined type. You stuck with Bellamy’s gunners pretty immediately and then in Mount Weather we probably wouldn’t have been able to make it out without your help getting the signal broadcast out-“

“I literally just smashed a wall with a hammer, Monty, you could have done that-“

“But you did it.” Monty looks up finally and Nathan feels like he’s been pinned to the wall by the weight of his stare. “You did it, and you were one of the first to volunteer for the blood treatments, and no matter how dumb or risky the plan was you stuck with us. With Jasper and Harper and – and me. And, I don’t know,” he shakes his head. “You don’t seem like the kind of guy to just not say anything to someone you care that much for.” 

Nathan feels gutted. The ring in his pocket seems like it’s burning hot, like it’s searing into his skin from how aware he is that it’s sitting right there. He looks down at his own clasped hands and how they’re bigger and rougher-looking than Monty’s, which are more slender and only marred by bitten nails and the occasional burn from misbehaving circuitry. He lets out a shaky breath and looks back up to Monty. 

“I guess I still have time, though, huh?” 

Monty looks surprised, his eyebrows pulling in to knit together in confusion. “Uh, I guess, but- “

Nathan smiles but he knows it comes out crooked and strained, and he tries to rub away the hot, tense feeling on the back of his neck even though he knows it won’t do anything. “I got something for you.” He digs the ring out of his pocket and holds it carefully out towards Monty. “Found it in the Mount Weather stuff. I didn’t think anyone’d miss it, so.” When Monty makes no movements for the ring Nathan waves it in the air a bit. “It’s got, um, branches and stuff on it, I don’t know. It reminded me of you.”

After a beat Monty reaches out to take the ring, and Nathan’s heart skips pitifully when he sees the corner of Monty’s mouth turn up in half a smile. “You are a good thief, huh?”

Nathan grins, this one coming out a bit better. “The best.” He watches Monty shift the ring in the light, inspecting it. “You could also get a chain or something for it, you know, if you didn’t want to wear it – that is, if you actually like it-“

“I like it.” Monty slips it on his left index finger and it sits comfortably above his knuckle, below an irritated and shiny patch of burned skin. “But I don’t – why’d you take this for me? Other than the whole plants thing?”

Here it comes. Nathan sucks in a breath and lets himself shift just barely forward. “I don’t have a boyfriend from Farm Station,” he starts, and Monty looks at him quickly. “But. I was hoping, maybe, I could have one?”

There’s a pause that probably lasts a second but feels like an hour, but then Nathan watches Monty tense up and, amazingly, flush bright red. It has him so completely taken off guard that he almost misses it when Monty looks up at him in what seems like complete astonishment. The boy searches his face for a moment. “You’re – you’re not joking, are you?”

Nathan lets out a rough laugh. “I risked all of Gina’s wrath to get that ring for you. Also, I’ve kind of liked you since back when you helped out at the pharma-farms. And those uniforms were hard to look good in.” He knows he’s acting way more confident then he feels, but then again, Monty hasn’t thrown the ring back at him yet.

In fact, Monty’s twisting the ring further onto his finger, eyes still searching Nathan’s. There’s another beat and then Monty snorts before letting it turn into a full laugh. Nathan dazedly thinks it’s maybe the most awesome thing he’s ever done, making Monty Green laugh after a week and a half of nothing but weak smiles. 

“I remember you now,” Monty says, and when he grins fully at Nathan it feels like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. “You were shorter then, right?”

“I didn’t really get my growth spurt ‘till the Sky Box.” 

“Right.” 

And before he can figure out what’s happening he has Monty tipping forward into his lap, one hand coming up to touch Nathan’s neck hesitantly and lips pressing against his. Screw making him laugh, Nathan thinks, as his own hands move immediately to clutch at Monty’s waist, this is the most awesome thing he’s ever done. They kiss for what has to be only a few seconds but it’s long enough to have Nathan feeling like he may just have a heart attack, his pulse is going so fast, and when Monty pulls back and looks at him with a smile playing on his lips he knows that Monty can tell. But it’s alright, Nathan thinks, shifting to pull Monty more firmly onto his lap and ducking back in for another kiss because this is something he can do now. He can feel the press of the ring against the side of his neck from where Monty’s holding him, and it feels more sure than anything else on the Ground has felt. 

(They spend a full 48 hours sneaking kisses during breaks in work and training before Harper finds out, and through her the entire camp. Bellamy punches Nathan so hard in the arm that it bruises and Monty flushes self-assuredly from within a cluster of nosy girls, but it’s alright. Monty ended up stringing the ring on a chain that he keeps beneath his shirt, largely to avoid further teasing but also to keep it out of the way when he solders. Privately, Nathan thinks his boy from Farm Station is kind of the best thing he’s ever stolen.

Nathan’s a fucking sap.)


End file.
